Cleanse

I have been reading about the Whole Living Cleanse for the last month and tomorrow I'm jumping in. I planned to get started last week but a family emergency (aka my brother's appendix rupturing) and lack of preparation kept it from happening. I was going to do it in conjunction with Dusty on All Things G&D, but I actually think it may be to my advantage to be one week behind her.While this means she'll be through some of the struggles before I get there, it also means I can take her organization and preparation and use it to my benefit. On Friday, I pulled together a bunch of recipes and a pretty complete grocery list. Today I took a trip to the produce section at HyVee and chopped bags of vegetables and mixed up some fresh dressing for my salads for the week.

While I'm sure no one recommends starting a diet in the worst valley possible, I definitely overindulged today on the things I won't get for the next couple of weeks. Pancakes for breakfast, M&M's and a frappuccino for lunch, pizza for dinner and I plan to pair the Grammy's with a nice glass of wine! I'm not sure my diet today will make tomorrows veggies, fruit, nuts, and water that much easier but at least I'll have the memories of today!

This week I plan on focusing my blog on the cleanse. That may make my posts boring (cranky), but it'll be an easy way to hold myself accountable. The big rules of the three (to four) week cleanse is NO added sugar, NO processed food or beverages, NO gluten, NO dairy, NO caffeine, and NO alcohol. Week one focuses on fruits, nuts, vegetables, seeds, and plant-based fats and oils. I can do anything for a week, right?

One of the points of the cleanse is to think about why exactly I'm doing it. While I do hope to lose five  pounds, my three main goals are related to my longer term relationship with and want from the food I eat.

1. I hope to find a more genuine energy and wakefulness. It doesn't matter how much caffeine I drink lately or how early I go to bed. I am exhausted ALL OF THE TIME!

2.  A would like a better sense of control over what I'm putting in my body. I've done a genuinely good job of cutting fast food almost entirely out of my diet (except for the rare occasion when I don't really enjoy it anyway and regret it almost immediately), but cutting processed foods out is tougher. I'm in a busy, working family. It's hard to find the time to cook and consume balanced meals.

3. I long for a stronger connection to why I am eating what I am eating in this moment. I am a comfort eater. It is a way of celebrating, mourning, relaxing, de-stressing, worrying, and procrastinating for me. I would really like it to be first and foremost, a way of sustaining.

Cheers to a new adventure!